1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to exercise treadmills, and more particularly to a locking device to lock a collapsible treadmill deck in a folded position and the locking device provides an enhanced stability to hold the treadmill deck in position.
2. Description of Related Art
Treadmills are common items of exercise equipment and are popular for people to do indoor exercises, such as running, jogging, walking etc. A. conventional treadmill is bulky and is inconvenient to temporarily store or transport. Therefore, the treadmill today generally uses a collapsible treadmill deck to reduce a size of the whole treadmill when the treadmill is not in use. A conventional collapsible treadmill comprises a base assembly, a collapsible treadmill deck and an upright structure. The upright structure is mounted on the base assembly. The treadmill deck is pivotally mounted to the base assembly. Therefore, the treadmill can be held in either a horizontal position or a vertically folded position.
There are various means can be found to keep the treadmill deck to stay in a given folded position. One of them is to use a locking device with a lock and a telescopic tube to support and lock the treadmill deck while the treadmill deck is in the given folded position. The telescopic tube has a top end and a bottom end and comprises an inside tube and an outside tube. The top end is pivotally mounted to the treadmill deck. The bottom end is pivotally mounted to the base assembly. The inside tube is telescopically mounted in the outside tube. The lock is mounted on the telescopic tube to interlock the inside tube with the outside tube in position so as to retain the treadmill deck in the given folded position.
However, the locking device to lock the telescopic tube must be reliable to avoid the treadmill deck suddenly falling from the folded position, particularly if a person inadvertently bumps into or leans on the treadmill deck. Since the treadmill deck is generally very heavy, the unexpected movement of the falling treadmill deck may cause an injury to any person who is near the treadmill deck.
Therefore, the present invention provides an improved locking device to lock firmly a collapsible treadmill deck in a given folded position to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.